'Master, who are these ladies?'

Rufus is now about to return to the Tower after his master finished his business within that old mansion. But as they walk outside, he noticed that there are now four cloaked ladies following behind them.

​​

The four of them have tanned skin and black hair… He couldn't properly see their faces but he can guess that they are not from this kingdom… Their height was definitely taller than the average females here.

'Don't worry about them… They'll be my new followers…' Reiji answered.

'I see… But I didn't arrange any living quarters for other servants yet, Master Reiji.'

'It doesn't matter… They can stay in a nearby inn… Anyway, what are you planning now?'

'My plans? I'll go with you, Master… I also want to train myself… and I don't think I'll improve faster if you leave me here.' Rufus immediately replied. Within the past two months, the young man has already gotten used to his master's daily training.

He realized that Reiji has a method to track his status and always provide him the best training possible.

'Very well… You should find a mission once we've returned.'

'Yes, Master!'

Their conversation ended here as Reiji remained silent until they arrived at the tower…

Apparently, he decided to check his Sword Slave Marker…

At this time, his slaves can only live up to 500 meters from him… If they exceeded that distance whether it is an accident or not, they'll lose their connection to him and will result in their deaths.

In truth, he also wanted to know whether there is a time limit where he could still save them if he got into the range fast enough… but he didn't want to try it for now.

'Mhmm… I have a lot of available Skills Points right now… It shouldn't be a problem to upgrade this ability.'

Reiji pondered for a moment before upgrading the skill.

[ Sword Slave Marker has been upgraded to level 2 ]

[ Maximum number of slaves has increased by 1 ]

[ Maximum distance of the slaves has increased by 250 meters ]

Reiji's skills points were deducted by 580 with just a single upgrade.

However, he already completed several missions in the past two months and he has tons of them right now. He's not afraid to spend his SP today…

'Alright, one more…'

[ Sword Slave Marker has been upgraded to level 3 ]

[ Maximum distance of the slaves has increased by 250 meters ]

[ The strength of the Marker has greatly increased ]

'I see… It has a different perk every upgrade.'

Reiji noticed the difference in each upgrade. His first upgrade increased the number of slaves he could get while the second upgrade increased the power of his Marker ability.

He never had anything like this before so he found it quite refreshing. Nevertheless, his Skill Points were still abundant even after upgrade the expensive skill twice…

[ Skill Points Available: 3010 ]

Reiji grinned after seeing his remaining savings.

He's pondering about the other skills he'll upgrade or perhaps purchase when Rufus suddenly interrupted him.

"Master, do you still need my blood? I can give you more if you want."

'Eh? What's with the sudden suggestion?'

Reiji doesn't have a mission about getting his wielder's blood right now so he's not interested. But he became curious as to why this kid would suddenly bring this up.

"Nothing… I'm just curious… I can't understand how your hunger works, master…"

Rufus muttered as he recalls how thirsty his master was. Reiji would always cleanly take or consume his blood whenever he cuts himself to bleed before.

"I see… Don't think too much about it… I'll just inform you if ever I needed some of your blood or not… For now, we just have to fight some Evil Beast, or perhaps killing them would be better. I'll be happy with that."

Reiji replied to his student.

Apparently, his missions right now are all related to defeating creatures, while using some of his skills and even his durability.

***

"Rufus! Rufus! Hurry there's something you need to know!"

Chrisome quickly ran in Rufus's direction after the former saw him entering the Tower. His voice sounded worried so the young man already has an idea what he is about to say.

"Calm down, Chrisome… Is it about the news brought by the messenger this morning?"

"Oh… So you're already aware of it?"

"I heard about it from the outside…"

"What are your plans now? Some of us who left our families in the western region will join the troops going there…"

"You're going with them?"

"Yes… However, I won't be joining as part of the army… The Tower has given us missions to visit the region instead…" Chrisome then explained their plans to just see how their families are doing right now and bring them to safety if necessary.

The young man also explained how the Greiner Family joined the Duchy's Army and were now labeled as a traitor by the royal family. There are even rumors that there are also other forces within the Kingdom that will betray the king sooner or later…

If it is true that there's another organization or perhaps a family that will betray the king, then it would be difficult for everyone to cooperate with each other.

Unless they've found all the traitors first, it would be difficult for everyone to trust each other.

Reiji who is listening about this understood their concern. However, he actually thinks that no one will actually betray the king other than the Greiner Family, and the rumors were just made by the Duchy to keep in check the forces of the King and not to allow them to centralize their forces.

As long as their soldiers and other forces are scattered, even if the Duchy has only brought about 50 thousand elite soldiers with them, they can guarantee that they would be able to defend the western region until they decided to open the negotiation table.

Rufus thanked the man as he also decided to visit the mission distribution hall.

There's quite a lot of people in the room and he also noticed that the official working on the desk has his hands full.

"Well, let's see the missions first…" Rufus talked to himself as he looked at the neatly arranged mission board at the wall.

He decided to look around the posted missions to see if there is something suitable for him…

The missions are divided into categories similar to the Hunter Association.

The highest is rank S and the lowest is rank E mission.

Rufus curiously looked at the rank S and realized that there is a new addition to it… He easily noticed it because the paper pinned on the board is brand new compared to the other ones that have been there for perhaps years if not decades…

[ Rank S Mission ]

[ Task: Find the stolen Cursed Mask Arcana

Reward: 20,000 gold coins, 3 Ownerless Epic Rank Arcana, and Full Access to the Tower's Facility including 30 uses in our Mystical Pond. ]

A picture with complete details is also included on the paper.

"Whoa~"

Rufus knows that the 20 thousand gold is very low for an S-Rank Mission since the others would reach 60 thousand gold and above. They are missions about the deadliest Evil Beast, Elves, Fairies, and even deep-sea creatures…

However, the inclusion of 3 Epic Rank Arcana and 30 uses of the Mystical Pond is a different matter.

The pond is the one capable of giving random skill to any Arcana or perhaps Magic Item.

It is an incredibly valuable opportunity that anyone would be willing to do anything just to get another chance on it.

After all, it is said that additional skills can only be acquired through the Awakening Process… This is what they were taught in the Academy and what they believed.

If Rufus didn't decide to enter this tower, perhaps he would be clueless about the existence of this pond forever…

Although only one skill can be gifted by the pond on each weapon, it is safe and effective, unlike the awakening process that can literally destroy the Arcana if it is done unprepared.

'Mhmmm… These missions are all related to the west… Why is there nothing about the North?'

The young man continued checking the other missions and finally found a couple of missions but it wouldn't bring him that far to the north...

[ Rank C Mission ]

[ Task: Resolve the problem of the farmers in their field. Do something about the pests destroying their winter crops.

Location: Gahan Village

Reward: 5-Days Free Use of Magic Item Creation Array and a new set of Arcanist Robe enhance by Sir Kael ]

[ Rank B Mission ]

[ Task: Count Vincent is looking for a young and beautiful female teacher for his 8-year-old son. Teach him the basics about the Arcanists and introduce him to Spiritual Energy.

Duration: 2 weeks

Requirements: Below 15 years old.

Reward: To be given by the Count and 2-Days Access to the Lv1 Book of the Forbidden Arts ]

Rufus smiled wryly at the missions that would perhaps bring him to the north.